Royal Mail Lost Items - Proof of Purchase?

Lee999

Hi

I have a small ebay business and in the past 4-5 months Royal Mail have lost around 8-10 items I have posted.

I have proof of posting for each item I send, and filled out the Royal Mail Lost Item P58 form for the first 5 or so items and they refunded me.

For the last 3 items, Royal Mail have sent me a letter saying that I would have to provide them with proof of purchase of the item, even though I have provided them the posting receipt and proof of posting.

It also states that the proof of purchase cannot be the ebay page.
The problem I have, is that I buy all of my stock in bulk through ebay and split the items and sell them individually, so the only proof of purchase I have is the ebay page.

Does anyone know what I can do about this? Basically I have provided Royal Mail with all of the things they require on the P58 form (proof of postage, posting receipt, ebay selling page etc) but they are now asking for proof of purchase (receipt, invoice etc).
I guess this is because I have made over 5 claims in the past few months, but I don't see why I need to provide a proof of purchase when I have provided proof of posting and postage receipts!

Thanks

campdave

You are refunded the price you paid for the item, so you are being asked for proof of that.

Lee999

campdave wrote: »

You are refunded the price you paid for the item, so you are being asked for proof of that.

Yes that is fair enough. But if I buy it in bulk i.e. lots of different items, how am I supposed to provide proof of the price of the individual item?

Plus they say it can't be the ebay page, but ebay is where I buy all of my items from!

ballisticbrian

Plus they say it can't be the ebay page, but ebay is where I buy all of my items from!

First you need to differentiate between eBay page and eBay invoice.
Then you are going to need to break down the invoice so they can see how many bulk widgets you bought for x amount.

JanineB

How annoying OP! Is this a new criteria for business sellers? I'm having a huge clearout and if they ask me for proof of purchase should anything go walkabout, I won't have it as I'm a personal seller and things were bought years ago!

Lee999

ballisticbrian wrote: »

First you need to differentiate between eBay page and eBay invoice.
Then you are going to need to break down the invoice so they can see how many bulk widgets you bought for x amount.

Ok, so I can provide them with an ebay invoice, not a problem, but what I'm trying to say is:-

If I buy my bulk item at £75 and it is made up of 30 different items, how am I supposed to provide my proof of the cost of a specific item?

Also, each bulk item I buy contains many different items each time, so it is not as though I can say that I bought 30 of x at £75 and divide £75 by x to come to a specific cost per item.
I may have 3 a, 4 b, 3 c, 5 d in one bulk item and 7 f, 2 g, 5 h etc in another bulk item!

I think what I am trying to say is I pay differing amounts for a bulk item each time and they may have completely different items in from one bulk item to another!

Lee999

JanineB wrote: »

How annoying OP! Is this a new criteria for business sellers? I'm having a huge clearout and if they ask me for proof of purchase should anything go walkabout, I won't have it as I'm a personal seller and things were bought years ago!

I'm not sure, but it seems to have started since the Royal Mail changes on 2nd April.....

theonlywayisup

Lee999 wrote: »

I'm not sure, but it seems to have started since the Royal Mail changes on 2nd April.....

Royal Mail have asked for evidence for as long as I can recall. It certainly isn't new.

As has been said, you need your invoice or the payment page from Paypal and add the Ebay listing in with it.

If it's a job lot that you break down, include your calculations.

justapoorboy

I do know of this happening to a friend who is a business seller some years ago, so it's not new.

You should be able to locate an invoice or similar type of document via PayPal history.

Lee999

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Royal Mail have asked for evidence for as long as I can recall. It certainly isn't new.

As has been said, you need your invoice or the payment page from Paypal and add the Ebay listing in with it.

If it's a job lot that you break down, include your calculations.

Ok, so basically I'll send them the ebay invoice and the ebay listing of the bulk item I bought, and calculate each item into what I think they would have cost originally. So basically they have to take my word for what it is worth?!

What I don't understand is, I've provided them with proof of postage, posting receipt and the ebay selling page, so they can see that I have posted it, they have the amount it cost to post it and also how much the item sold for. Surely they should base a refund off those amounts?!

Lee999

justapoorboy wrote: »

I do know of this happening to a friend who is a business seller some years ago, so it's not new.

You should be able to locate an invoice or similar type of document via PayPal history.

Yes I know this, but as above, I buy many different items in bulk and it sounds like I will have to calculate what I think each item is worth.